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Ralph D. McRae
Chairman and CEO
Leading Brands, Inc.
Toll Free: 1-800-729-2746 ext. 238
[email protected]

LEADING BRANDS RETAINS PORTFOLIO PR
FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS

VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA. August 25, 2000-Leading Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LBIX), Canada's largest independent, fully integrated food and beverage brand management company, today announced that it has retained PortfolioPR, a New York-based investor and public relations firm, to support the Company in the area of investor relations.

Commenting on the appointment, Ralph McRae, Chief Executive Officer, said, "This year looks to be a year of important growth. We've completed restructuring the Company, successfully overhauled our balance sheet, strengthened top management and are primed to go. We've increased the number of brands we represent and expanded our distribution channels. Most important, sales are up and we've had a substantial positive swing in net income. Going forward, we expect both this trend and the momentum to build. We expect our soon-to-be-launched Quick.com home replenishment and distribution subsidiary to fuel this growth in coming years."

"It's important for the financial community to understand the Leading Brands story. We've engaged PortfolioPR to communicate our value to investors and the financial media and believe their unique combination of investor relations skills, experience with food and internet-related companies as well as their presentation technology expertise, will enable us to communicate our major accomplishments, efficiently and effectively."
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Paul Holm, PortfolioPR principal, stated: "We are delighted to represent Leading Brands because it is a success story needing to be heard. Its prospects for future profitability are bright as it increases the range of products which it distributes, and leverages its warehousing and distribution infrastructure. Quick.com is likely to continue this trend, especially since its strategy is to outsource technical aspects of its distribution system to third party experts."

About PortfolioPR:

PortfolioPR is a dynamic and innovative investor and public relations firm dedicated to first-rate customer service. It is grounded in three areas of expertise: investor and public relations skills, hands-on business experience and expertise in state-of-the-art presentation technology. With its strategic alliance with Chicago based Kurman Communications, a leading public relations firm and PresentationExcellence, a presentation coaching/consulting firm, PortfolioPR is able to help their clients truly stand out. It currently services clients in the United States, Canada and Israel.

About Leading Brands, Inc.:

Headquartered in Richmond, B.C., Canada, Leading Brands, Inc. is the largest independent food and beverage integrated brand management company in Canada. The Company's unique Integrated Distribution System (IDS) offers turnkey, one-stop shopping to food and beverage brand owners. Its Quick.com, Inc. subsidiary is building a consumer home replenishment system for the Internet economy.

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NOTE: Any statements that are not historical facts contained in this release are forward-looking statements. It is possible that the assumptions made by management for purposes of such statements may not materialize. Actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in any forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those relating to product demand, pricing, market acceptance, the effect of economic conditions, including currency fluctuations, intellectual property rights, and the outcome of competitive products, risks in product development, the results of financing effort, the ability to complete transactions, and other risks identified in this release and the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.